Guitarist of My Dreams
by Ailia Kate Kira
Summary: Natsume admits defeat in the one game he's a god at and by who?— a girl who randomly popped up in the arcade. "You called me a retard." Natsume said. "And a person with OCD, you got a problem with that?" The girl replied. For CC.


**This is an updated version of Guitarist of My Dreams. Typographical, along with grammatical, errors have been fixed by your truly. This story was initially for a contest. The story sounds a tad better now in comparison to before. **

**DISCLAIMER! I do not own Gakuen Alice or Girls Dead Monster.**

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Here he was, stuck in the mall, one of the places he would never dare go to unless dragged by someone or in this case a bunch of people he'd call friends. For Natsume Hyuuga, he'd rather stay at home and sleep or read that hidden stash of porn magazines. Where were they hidden? Of course, that was a secret since it was a _hidden_ stash. The whole fiasco of hanging out at mall started with Koko who begged everyone to go with him to play the new Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero: Japanese. Played Guitar Hero was how they would bond, With a PS2 decked out with all the Guitar Hero series you can get and a PS3 with that held the latest versions of it, it's no wonder they gave in to Koko's offer to play Guitar Hero. What they didn't understand was the need to go to the mall just to play that version when they could just order it, buy it, then play it back at the dormitory. Koko simply replied with a goofy smile and the words:

"They don't plan to make a PS3 or PS2 game of it."

So here they were standing at the entrance of the mall. They looked around and saw people— too many people. Natsume wasn't having his day because he disliked going to the mall, especially when it was super crowded, but that made him wonder: Why were there lots of people in the mall on a Wednesday? There was school the next day and they went to the mall at around 7 in the evening, so what was the fuss about that dragged in so many people?

"Natsume?" That was when he realized he had fallen into a trance. He looked towards his blonde best friend, the most probable person to have called out his name.

"What?" Natsume sternly said.

"It's nothing. You were just in a trance that's all." Ruka replied followed by an unsure laugh.

"Whatever, where are the others?"

"Oh…," trailed Ruka. "They went ahead." Those simple words made Natsume mumble those fucking retards. "Anyway, we should get going now Natsume."

The two of them walked in and saw the place unusually packed. They knew their destination, the video games arcade located at the 4th floor, center wing of the mall. As they went up the floors, the two looked around and noticed that as they went higher up, the less people there were. Were all the people concentrated at the ground floor? That wasn't only the tidbit the two noticed; they also noticed that most of the people who were in the ground floor crowd were girls. With this, the two boys had deduced that a boy band was probably having a concert that day and that the girls waiting there were overrated fan girls with no purpose in life but to worship boy bands. Natsume sighed as he contemplated how sick the girl population had become.

The two reached the 4th floor and saw Koko and Kitsuneme waving at them. They weren't blind; it wasn't hard to distinguish two guys that looked almost alike. Natsume glared at Koko when he and Ruka were beside them. Koko gulped; he knew something ominous was coming his way.

"I know Kitsuneme is smarter than you, so it could only be you who decided to go ahead. Am I right, Koko?"

Koko never liked Natsume's glare for whenever he would see it, he would have a sleepless night. All he could do was stare back and cower in fear.

"Now, now Natsume. Don't scare the balls out of Koko. He needs to be sane tomorrow remember."

Natsume stopped glaring and stalked over to the Guitar Hero section. It looked like no one bothered to try the Japanese version for they were clustered around the World Tour series, which the gang had finished long ago. Kitsuneme held out the card used for paying so they could play. The screen became brighter and they knew that their credits have been accepted. The usual things were asked: do you have a Guitar Hero Japanese card, would you like to get one, a two-player game and are you right-handed or left-handed. Those showed up and they answered quickly.

This is how the gang played. Ruka and Kitsuneme were always against each other because they thought they weren't skilled enough to battle Natsume, so they gave that job to Koko, who always obliged. Ruka and Kitsuneme knew that Koko could reach the same level as Natsume because in some games, he would win against Natsume. The songs were picked out at random for the first four rounds and the last one was always a group decision. They would play alternately, with Natsume and Koko first and Ruka and Kitsuneme after; thus, they started playing.

First Round: Baka Go Home – Milktub, Level – Hard. Natsume wins.

Reason why Natsume won? Well, the song had a scale of notes that were continuous and that was Koko's one weakness in Guitar Hero, so it was definite that Natsume would've won. Koko did try to catch up though, but sadly there weren't enough long held notes to get back his lost points.

Second Round: Brightdown – Nami Tamaki, Level – Medium. Kitsuneme wins.

Reason why Kitsuneme won? He knew the song from before, so it was easy to follow the beat of the notes. How did he know the song before the game? Easy— Kitsuneme was the die-hard anime otaku in the gang. He would have tons of posters in his room connected to anime, so he knew very well which anime the song that was chosen was from.

Third Round: Reach Out to the Truth – Shoji Meguro, Level – Hard. Koko wins.

Reason why Koko won? If Natsume had a weakness in the game, it would be repetitive parts. Why? Well, the beat would be continuous, so he would have memorized it after a while. When that happened, he didn't bother to look at the screen, so when the beat suddenly changed, Natsume made a couple of mistakes. Comparing it to Koko, he had perfected the song due to its simplicity.

Fourth Round: Karma – Bump of Chicken, Level – Medium. Ruka wins.

Reason why Ruka won? It was a close fight between Kitsuneme and Ruka in this song, the only difference was that Ruka used the whammy bar a lot and that gave him a slight lead in the score. It was a simple as that and Kitsuneme just laughed it out like it was no big deal that he lost because of a single whammy bar.

"It's the 5th round already." Koko started. "So what song are we going to choose?"

"I say we go for Sugar Sweet Nightmare!" Kitsuneme said with his whole heart.

"The title sounds gay." Natsume commented bluntly. "And I'm sure you know what anime it is from." Of course, Kitsuneme mumbled how Natsume is such a killjoy and how much Natsume didn't appreciate how much his, Kitsuneme's, love for anime.

"Why not Hologram, Natsume?" Ruka suggested.

"Sounds too simple." Natsume replied right away. Ruka in his mind wanted to strangle Natsume. Was it his fault that he wasn't as good as Natsume? Ruka sighed, which Natsume luckily didn't hear.

"Fuwa Fuwa Time sounds interesting." Koko suggested.

Natsume groaned. "Not you too, Koko. The title sounds fucking gay and the tune sounds too cute." Koko had the urge to punch Natsume right at that moment. What's wrong with liking or playing cute sounding songs? Koko balled his fists and was about to lift it up when they heard a voice.

"Are you a retard or some person with OCD?"

The whole gang turned around to look at the direction where the voice came from. In that spot, they saw a girl leaning against the pillar looking very annoyed. Though she looked annoyed, Natsume took one huge gaze at her and noted that she looked hot. The jeans hugged her hips and the tank top seemed to use a thin cloth that if it were in the color white, anyone would've seen the bra. However, she had one hell of an attitude.

"You called me a retard." Natsume said with a straight face.

"And a person with OCD. You got a problem with that?" The girl replied with some sass in it.

"No. I do have a problem with your attitude though. What's your name?" Natsume interrogated.

"My parents told me to never give my name to strangers."

"A saint, are you? You don't look like one." Natsume pointed at the outfit.

The girl laughed sarcastically, making sure that the boy heard the _haha_. "Don't get cocky. This is what I call a sexy angel look since it makes me look sexy and hides my angel-likeness, which I'll show later on."

"Really? Your attitude doesn't show your angel-likeness."

"Well, it doesn't show itself to rude and cocky guys like you." The girl stuck out her tongue.

"And childish to boot." Natsume mumbled softly, so the girl wouldn't hear more criticism from him, although annoying the girl would've been fun.

"I like this girl." Koko nudged Kitsuneme. "She blasted Natsume's ego down without a single worry." Ruka and Kitsuneme nodded in agreement, which signaled Koko to continue. "Why'd you bother our game?"

"Well…" The girl's voice trailed. "I saw that you had a dilemma in picking the next song, so I was about to suggest one when you suggested Fuwa Fuwa Time, which is quite nice to listen to, but then this cocky friend of yours named Natsume mocked the song, so I made a snide remark first. Sorry about that." The girl smiled.

"It's no problem." Ruka replied out of courtesy. "So what—"

"Song of choice?" Natsume cut in.

"Try Alchemy by Girls Dead Monster." The girl said happily.

"What?! No way. If that's the last thing I do!" Natsume burst out. Why the sudden outburst? Natsume never plays songs from bands that are purely girls or have the word girl or girls in it because he believed that all songs by girls are cute and pop-like.

"Even if I'm going to play against you instead of Koko?" Natsume intensely eyed the girl. However, the girl continued calling him out. "You must not be confident with your skills then if you don't want to play against a girl."

"Honey, you'll definitely lose if I play against you." Natsume replied cockily.

"Wanna bet?" The girl picked up the guitar from the stand and searched for the song Alchemy. "There it is!" She pressed the accept button, which instantly made Natsume grab the other guitar.

"Prepare to be whooped." Natsume smirked.

"We'll see. Level is hard." The girl relaxed her arms and glued her eyes at the screen.

For a moment, the screen was clear until a string of green notes, followed by short red, yellow and blue notes, were shown. Natsume wondered if the girl would even get through the whole song alive, but when he looked to his right, the girl was easily playing it— like it was no big deal. When the lyrics of the song were heard, the girl sung along. Coincidentally, the girl's voice sounded similar to that of the song. Natsume shook his head; the girl and the song must be affecting his thoughts. He concentrated on the screen and played, but he couldn't stop the girl's voice from entering his head.

After a while, the game finished with Natsume admitting defeat to the girl, who won by a few points. The girl smiled cheekily to the group who stared at her in awe because she had just beaten Natsume, the best in their group.

"You burned it!" Koko joyfully jumped. The girl was about to reply when a voice shouted out.

"Idiot! So this is where you were!" A girl's voice called out in annoyance. The group turned around and spotted a black-haired girl looking slightly annoyed. "We were looking for you, Mikan. The concert is starting soon." The black-haired girl dragged Mikan away with Mikan mouthing the words 'Thank You'.

The group looked at each other saying in unison, "So her name was Mikan." She must've gone to the mall for the concert. Initially, it wasn't their plan to go to the concert, but Mikan sparked their interest. They wanted to know what kind of music she listened to. As they exit the video game arcade, Ruka's eyes lingered towards a certain corner.

"Isn't that Aoi?"

The whole gang looked at where Ruka pointed and saw Aoi who was two-floors down, surrounded by concert equipment. Why was she there? They went down the flight of escalators and rushed over to Aoi who was directing people. They shouted her name, which made her turn around.

"Oh, hey you guys."

"What are you doing surrounded with these equipment?" Natsume questioned his little sister.

"It's for the concert of Girls Dead Monster." She pointed at the stage. "This is their first debut outside campus. I'm the assistant manager, FYI."

Natsume snickered. "Assistant manager?"

"Hard to believe right?" Aoi looks at the stage and the lights dimmed out. "It looks like they're starting; try watching my dear brother."

They took a look at the stage and saw four girls: two with a guitar, another on drums and one on bass. The other guitarist must be the singer and that was when they noticed the guitarist's hazelnut hair, wearing jeans and a tank top the same color as the girl who battled Natsume.

"Good evening! We're Girls Dead Monster and we're from Gakuen Alice. We'll be playing only one song today, which is Alchemy. Hope you like it." Mikan said through the microphone.

"Oh yeah, introduction." Aoi stated to the guys. "Mikan, singer. Nonoko, guitar. Anna, bass and Sumire, drums."

Natsume stared in awe at Mikan. It made sense now: the game, the song, the voice, the looks, and the polka-dotted underwear. He wanted to meet that girl; he had no idea when, but he had developed this thing for Mikan. He asked Aoi to let him backstage after the show, which she reluctantly agreed to. After the whole concert, he followed Aoi while the gang waited outside for him.

Backstage, everyone was jumping with joy. Anna and Nonoko hugged each other, while Sumire and Mikan exchanged high-fives. Mikan was about to hug Aoi, who she saw enter the door when she saw Natsume.

"It's the cocky bastard I met." Aoi laughed at Mikan's comment.

"Mikan, this is my older brother Natsume." Aoi explained.

"You're related to him?! This can't be happening." Mikan sighed.

"Look, I'll be blunt with you right now." Natsume started. "You're fucking awesome at the guitar; you have one awesome voice and your polka-dotted underwear ain't that bad." Of course, in the background Natsume heard Mikan say pervert. "I will make you fall in love with me and you will become my girlfriend." Then Natsume left backstage to return to his friends.

"That. Cocky. Bastard." Mikan said furiously.

"Mikan, if I know my brother, he means what he says and he rarely gives out compliments. All I can say is good luck!" Aoi said hesitantly with a smile. Mikan sighed because the continuation of her high school life in Gakuen Alice was going to be rocky.

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The next day, Mikan opened her locker to see a key dangling right in front of her with a note. She took the note and read the contents.

_Mikan, here's a key to my dorm room. I want a rematch with you in Guitar Hero. Be there right after school. ~Natsume_

Mikan sighed as she got the key and placed it in her breast pocket. She grabbed her books and turned around to see Natsume. She raised an eyebrow and nonchalantly looked at him.

"I expect you to be there." He brought out a copy of Guitar Hero Japanese. "Your best friend, Hotaru I think, gave this to me. I'll be waiting." And he walked away from Mikan, who just chuckled. She never backed down from a Guitar Hero battle.

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**Please review! :3**


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